Tag Archives: International relations

Our present relationship with the European Union is untenable. As David Cameron has said, “we need fundamental, far-reaching change”. We are now in a Parliament which will deliver an in/out referendum on our membership after a renegotiation by the Government. The following three points must be achieved if any renegotiation is to be successful: A sovereign Parliament. The elected representatives of the British people must have the freedom and power to determine the law which governs life in the United Kingdom. Today, EU rules account for […]

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In the Telegraph, Peter Oborne reviews Ruling the Void: The Hollowing of Western Democracy by Peter Mair. I have not yet read it. Towards the end, Oborne writes, Like Miliband, Peter Mair comes from the Left. He was an Irishman who spent the majority of his professional life working in European universities in Italy, the Netherlands or Ireland. And yet he has written what is by far and away the most powerful, learned and persuasive anti-EU treatise I have come […]

Tonight on Channel 4 at 11:10 PM, Kashmir’s Torture Trail: In 2010 Kashmir erupted in violent protests in which 118 demonstrators died. This programme meets the Kashmiri lawyer determined to bring India to account for events in Kashmir. In the course of campaigning for peaceful democratic self-determination for Kashmir, I have often said that what is needed is incontrovertible evidence of human rights abuses in the region which can be given a high profile. I haven’t been involved in this […]

Today, the Commons will debate this motion brought forward by John Baron MP: That this House believes that the use of force against Iran would be wholly counter-productive and would serve only to encourage any development of nuclear weapons; and calls upon the Government to rule out the use of force against Iran and reduce tensions by redoubling diplomatic efforts. It is being met by the following proposed amendment: Line 1, leave out from ‘House’ to end and add ‘supports […]

On Conservative Home, Nadine Dorries reports on our visit to Equatorial Guinea: All three of us undertook the trip with one objective in mind, to bring back an accurate impression and to do whatever we could to make any suggestion towards improving the daily lives of the small population. Nadine’s article is very good and I have little to add to it, except to reproduce the following section of our report: The Equatorial Guinea government exists to increase the personal […]

Yesterday’s debate on Human Rights on the Indian Subcontinent, which I moved and in which I focussed on Kashmir, may be found here: Steve Baker (Wycombe) (Con): I beg to move, That this House has considered the issue of Human Rights on the Indian Subcontinent. I am extremely grateful to the Backbench Business Committee for making this debate possible. My predecessor, Paul Goodman, took this issue extremely seriously and I am sure that had this mechanism been available he would have […]

Via The Hindu, we find an Indian reaction to this afternoon’s debate, which I shall lead: Britain’s strong Kashmir lobby, represented by MPs with large constituents of Pakistani origin from Mirpur, has seized on an Amnesty International report on alleged human rights violations in Kashmir to seek the British government’s intervention prompting a full-scale debate in the House of Commons on Thursday. The debate, called by Conservative MP Steve Baker, has raised eyebrows in Indian diplomatic circles. While there was […]

On ConservativeHome’s Platform: Steve Baker MP: Egypt teeters, exposing lessons for the UK: Under the auspices of the Iman Foundation, Syed Kamall MEP and I travelled this week to Cairo to promote pluralism and the principles of a free society. We delivered two successful seminars on democracy, freedom and tolerance – one for senior political and academic figures and one for young activists – in addition to meeting members of Egypt’s political class. These seminars followed Syed’s previous work in Cote d’Ivoire based on Principles […]

Via Libya and the War Powers Act – NYTimes.com, comment on Obama’s conflict with Congress over whether US participation is within his authority: It would be hugely costly — for this country’s credibility, for the future of NATO and for the people of Libya — if Congress were to force President Obama to abandon military operations over Libya. However, Mr. Obama cannot evade his responsibility, under the War Powers Act, to seek Congressional approval to continue the operation. … But the […]

A number of my constituents have contacted me about the situation in Sri Lanka and the allegations of war crimes. I wrote to Alistair Burt, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, seeking more information. He recently replied as follows: The UK wants to see lasting peace and security in Sri Lanka. We have encouraged the Government of Sri Lanka to involve all communities in a fully inclusive process which addresses the underlying causes of the conflict. […]